after reading this and some other financial forums for a while, I realize it's time for me to seek the advice of those wiser than me when it comes to investing and financial management.

Here is the relevant information. Please let me know if I leave anything out that would be important:

Me: 39Wife: 381 child: 8

Additional info: Wife suffers from fibromyalgia, making employment impossible. Son has autism, although not severe. He attends the special education class in our school district. Moderate medical bills ~ $3500 per year not including insurance premiums.

I just started a new job this year. Salary $125k + decent bonus opportunity. The company offers a 3% 401k match on the first 6% I invest, and potentially another 3% at year end at the discretion of the board (it has been paid out the last 3-4 years) - I think this has something to do with the Safe Harbor provision.

Home: Appraised for $205k a couple of months ago when I refinanced it. Loan amount: $160k. Rate 2.875%, 15 years (payment #2 due Feb 1)Vehicle 1: Owe $24k at 1.49%Vehicle 2: Owe $5k at 1.49%Credit Card: Owe $3.9k at 0% interest until it is paid off (I had a 0% interest, 0% balance transfer fee offer a few years ago - took advantage of offer, and taking my time paying it off since it is 0% interest).

Emergency Fund: $43k (would represent around 9 months of living expenses with some cutting back)

Previous Employer 401k at Fidelity #1Fidelity® Money Market Trust Retirement Government Money Market Portfolio FGMXX Short-Term 0.42% ER $31,766.87 18.4%(recently moved everything in the MM thinking about rolling over into Vanguard account or current employer's 401k, but would like advice on this too)

Current Employer 401k at Fidelitynothing invested yet - available to invest in February

Plan for 2013:Invest $17,500 in 401k on a pre-tax basisHSA $5450 + $500 contributed by company

Desired Portfolio allocation:I've been very aggressive so far trying to get back what I lost in 2008. Lately I've been worried about the future economic outlook. I think there will be a recession in the 2nd half of 2013 and through 2014. Not sure what I should do to account for this, but I think I should do something like:

Questions and things I would like advice on:- I feel like I've done well cutting costs, and refinancing loans to really low rates, but I feel like i am no where near where I need to be in terms of retirement savings. 2008-2011 took a bit hit on my 401k accounts, and it wasn't until 2012 when it came back to 2008 levels. I'd like to create an action plan on how I can maximize retirement/savings opportunities. I know I can contribute to both his and hers Roth IRA accounts for $5500 each in 2013, but not sure if I will be able to save that much due to contributing to the HSA account (I plan on paying cash for medical expenses leaving the HSA for future years if possible).- Should I move any of the 2 previous employer's 401k accounts into Vanguard or my current employer's 401k?- Which, from all the options available, should I pick to get to my new portfolio allocation?

Last and not least, thank you to all the great people on this board. Just putting the above information together is quite a handful, so I have to give a lot of respect to those who read through these posts, make sense of all of it, and put the time to think through options and picking the best alternatives available. Thank you all in advance for any advice you can provide, and if I've left anything out, I will be happy to provide the information, or my thought process so far.

I would keep it simple and roll your previous 401(k)'s into your current one. You have some reasonable investment options in there. I have found in general that when there are multiple solutions to a question/problem, its usually best to just pick the simpleist one. This is more of a personal decision, and you should consider how long you plan to be at your current employer.

Your main concern is your asset allocation. I can sense that you are somewhat emotional when it comes to investing, and the crash of 08 will do that. So find your risk tolerance, and rebalance to it asap. It will probably be best if you overestimate how devistated you will be if the stock market drops 50% while youre still invested uber-aggressively. Age in bonds (as a percentage of assets) is a good starting point.

Just keep in mind that your entire portfolio (assets you have in taxable accounts, Roth IRA's, bonds) needs to be considerred when determining your overall asset allocation, not just the assets in your retirement accounts.

Kozmig wrote:Should I move any of the 2 previous employer's 401k accounts into Vanguard or my current employer's 401k?

I'm a fan of leaving previous employers completely if possible, including their retirement plans. If your present employer allows you to roll your previous retirement plans into his, and you like the investment options to choose from, then consider doing that. Rolling them over to a Vanguard account means opening a tIRA which for later planning may not be helpful (if you were to want to do "backdoor rIRA" contributions, say.)

Kozmig, you have a few good options in your old 401k plans, if you want to keep them. I wouldn't roll them to your new 401k. It's not as good. So either keep them or roll them into your existing Rollover IRA at Vanguard. (I am assuming by "Rollover 401k at Vanguard" you mean a former 401k that has been rolled over to an IRA.)

In the Old 401k at Fidelity #2 you could have 49% in VINIX and 10% in PTTRX to start.

In the Current 401k at Fidelity you could buy 100% FSEVX until its value gets to one-quarter the value of VINIX. (80% large caps [Institutional Index/500 Index] plus 20% mid/small caps [Extended Market] makes up the total US stock market.) Then start buying VIFSX.

Although your asset allocation is obviously important I would advise you spend some more time on the budget side and concentrate on contributing as much as possible as soon as possible. Set a goal to max out both Roths ASAP. Plan on increasing to the max on everything once you hit 50 and can do catch ups. This is where you should focus.

You asked what you should do because you think the markets might _____ (fill in the blank). NO BODY KNOWS! So the first thing you need to do is stop listening to the talking heads, skip the predictions of the financial "experts" and learn that they do that black magic that they do so well to make money - or they are self decieved. All we mere mortals can hope to get is what the market gives us - broken record - we seek low cost and diversified. That's the magic plan.

On asset allocation, I feel that 70/30 is on the upper range for you but this is a very personal decision. Somewhere between there and age in bonds may be more appropriate for now but if 40/60 is right for you that's fine too. If during a market downturn or two you find yourself happily rebalancing you might consider increasing your risk a bit. This is not as much an academic exercise as it is a viseral measurement of your level of risk - your head won't stop your gut from gaining control.

The only other comment I wanted to make is that you need have enough life insurance to protect your family but I'm guessing you already do.

Kozmig wrote:I plan on paying cash for medical expenses leaving the HSA for future years if possible.

Does this make sense?

Your choice: get the tax deduction on $5,450 HSA contribution (federal income tax, state income tax, payroll taxes) and spend post-tax cash on $3,500 of medical expenses. If you are in the 25% bracket, in the child tax credit phaseout, and have an 8% state tax and you itemize, $3,500 of post-tax money requires about $5,500 of gross income.

Alternative: get the tax deduction on $5,450 HSA contribution, spend $3,500 on medical expenses, and have $2,000 left over, and contribute $5,500 to a deductible spousal TIRA. To be eligible for the spousal TIRA your gross income needs to be under about $205,000.

Your choice is yielding $5,450 of tax-deferred savings, while the alternative would yield $7,500 at no extra cost to you. What am I missing? I'm not familiar with HSA's, so maybe I'm missing something key. I do understand that HSA withdrawals could be tax-free, while TIRA withdrawals aren't necessarily so, but in the event of a major medical expense, TIRA withdrawals can be tax- and penalty-free for expenses above 10% of AGI.

wiki wrote:If you are maxing out your retirement accounts, you should treat the HSA as an opportunity for further savings, like an IRA, and not withdraw from it until you retire.

Thank you all for the comments and suggestions so far. There's definitely a couple of angles I did not see before.

One of the reasons I previously hesitated about closing down some of my old 401ks is that I liked some of the options there, but I think I ended up "covering" my bets within each account. I do like the idea of simplifying everything, and I have been given a few suggestions on how to do that, which I'll look at and pick from.

Bon's not my name - thank you also for the perspective of the HSA. It definitely makes sense. I will add a TIRA for my spouse. We are under the $205k limit, so it should be ok, and I will also look at contributing for 2012 as well, since I haven't filed my taxes yet.

Thank you everyone for the responses. I really appreciate the insight and things to consider.

$150,000 gross would make your AGI about $123,000. That puts you in the child tax credit phaseout, so your total marginal rate is 25% federal nominal + 5% due to child tax credit phaseout + x% state. At a 30-37% marginal rate the deductible TIRA avoids a lot of taxes.

Bob's not my name wrote:$150,000 gross would make your AGI about $123,000. That puts you in the child tax credit phaseout, so your total marginal rate is 25% federal nominal + 5% due to child tax credit phaseout + x% state. At a 30-37% marginal rate the deductible TIRA avoids a lot of taxes.

Playing around with my tax software, I figured I would save $200 in taxes for 2012 if I put $5k in a deductable TIRA. The benefit for 2013 would be more by the looks of things, so I will fund 2013 first, and then figure if I can fund $5k for 2012 as well.